haram

Etymology

It is borrowed from Arabic حَرَام (ḥarām, “forbidden, unlawful, taboo, sacred”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} from an Arabic verb meaning to be forbidden or unlawful.^[2][5] The earliest English use, a sacred precinct, follows a related Arabic noun meaning sanctuary or sacred precinct, formed from the same verb;^[2] for the Grand Mosque in Mecca the OED compares the Arabic name meaning "the sacred mosque".^[2] The same Arabic root gave harem,^[7][6][8] and Klein relates it to words in Ethiopic and Hebrew meaning to ban or to devote to God, among them the source of herem.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sacred area or precinct where the right of sanctuary holds and where hunting, carrying weapons and violence are forbidden: 1615, in W. Bedwell's Arabian Trudgman.^[2] The Shorter Oxford dates both the noun, a Muslim sacred place closed to non-Muslims, and the adjective to the early 17th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense "forbidden or proscribed by Islamic law", now the usual one, is recorded in the OED from 1797, in R. Heron's translation of Niebuhr's travels, and the noun for something forbidden by Islamic law from 1810.^[2] Merriam-Webster gives a much later first known use for the adjective, 1979.^[9] The adjective is often set against halal, what Islamic law permits, especially of food.^[2][6] The sacred-precinct sense survives in names such as the Haram al-Sharif, the "noble sanctuary" in Jerusalem.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 1615 – noun, a sacred precinct where violence and hunting are forbidden.^[2][6]
• 1797 – adjective, forbidden by Islamic law.^[2]
• 1810 – noun, that which Islamic law forbids.^[2]
• 1979 – first known use of the adjective according to Merriam-Webster.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Forbidden by Islamic law; the opposite of halal: Many scholars hold that pork is haram.^[9][4][5][2]

Noun

1. Something that Islamic law forbids; a sin.^[10][2][1]
2. A Muslim sacred place or precinct, where violence and hunting are forbidden and which non-Muslims may not enter.^[2][6][5]

Related words

• harem
• herem
• ihram
• Muharram

Usage notes

Haram is also a variant spelling of harem, in the sense of the women's quarters of a Muslim house.^[11][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House